Top Science News

August 7, 2026

Top Headlines

Vitamin C May Fight Cancer — But Not the Way Scientists Once Thought

Aug. 7, 2026 Linus Pauling was widely mocked for claiming that vitamin C could fight cancer, especially after trials using vitamin C pills showed no benefit. Researchers now know that intravenous vitamin C reaches vastly higher concentrations and can behave more ...

New Autism Therapy Shows Surprising Benefits Even in Adult Mice

Aug. 7, 2026 Blocking the glycine transporter SLC6A20 restored important brain signaling and improved social, communication, and repetitive behaviors in autism-related mouse models. The treatment also worked in human brain organoids and showed lasting effects in ...

UCLA Scientists Discover How to Guide Heat Like Light at Room Temperature

Aug. 7, 2026 Scientists have demonstrated that heat can move through a crystal in focused, wave-like rays at room temperature instead of spreading randomly. The breakthrough could make it possible to route heat around sensitive parts of next-generation chips and ...

Scientists Tracked 12 People in Antarctica for 10 Months—what Happened Could Shape Future Mars Missions

Aug. 7, 2026 A ten-month Antarctic experiment found that astronauts may struggle not only with loneliness but also with spending too much time around the same people. Frequent contact was linked to greater ...

Earth’s Molten Core Suddenly Reversed Direction — And Scientists Don’t Know Why

Aug. 7, 2026 Earth’s molten iron core unexpectedly reversed direction beneath the Pacific, revealing a dramatic change in the hidden engine that creates our planet’s magnetic field. Satellite data suggest the ...

Wearable Ultrasound Patch Boosts REM Sleep Without Drugs or Surgery

Aug. 7, 2026 A new wearable patch may help people reach REM sleep faster and remain there longer without medication or surgery. In a study of 28 participants, the device shortened the time to REM by 43 minutes and extended it by about 16 minutes. Researchers ...

The Key to Colonizing Mars May Be Hidden Inside Asteroids

Aug. 7, 2026 Metal-rich asteroids could one day become hardware stores for Mars, supplying the materials needed to build and repair a growing colony. A new analysis shows that carefully selected asteroids may be reachable with current spacecraft technology. Some ...

Scientists Find Unexpected Life on Ötzi the Iceman’s 5,300-year-old Body

Aug. 7, 2026 More than 5,000 years after his death, Ötzi the Iceman is still hosting a remarkable mix of ancient and modern microorganisms. Researchers separated microbes that lived in his body during his lifetime from those that arrived after his death, ...

Scientists Rediscover Lost Megalodon Fossils—and Reveal a 79-foot Giant

Aug. 6, 2026 Several enormous Megalodon vertebrae thought to have been destroyed in 1989 were found sitting unnoticed on a museum shelf. Their analysis strengthens evidence that the giant shark could exceed 24 meters (79 feet) in length and live for nearly a ...

Scientists Discover a Hidden Brain Shift That Begins Around Age 50

Aug. 6, 2026 Beginning around age 50, the brain’s memory center appears to lose many of its longtime immune cells and replace them with more inflammatory ones. This surprising shift may help explain how normal aging sets the stage for Alzheimer’s disease and ...

Major Study Challenges Long-held Fears About Acetaminophen and Ibuprofen Use in Babies

Aug. 6, 2026 A landmark study of nearly 4,000 babies found that acetaminophen and ibuprofen were equally safe during infancy. Neither medicine was linked to eczema or bronchiolitis, and no serious side effects ...

A Star’s Violent Death Exposed a Hidden Supermassive Black Hole

Aug. 6, 2026 A supermassive black hole has been found lurking about 30,000 light-years from the center of its galaxy—the first dormant black hole detected so far from a galactic core. It revealed itself only after shredding a passing star and producing a ...

Latest Headlines

updated 9:03am EDT

Cell-Inspired Nanoreactor Turns Sunlight Into Hydrogen Peroxide

Aug. 6, 2026 A new hollow nanoreactor mimics living cells to make hydrogen peroxide more efficiently using visible light. Its light-trapping cavity and proton-shuttling shell could open new possibilities for ...

Nearly Half of Dementia Cases May Be Linked to Risks You Can Change

Aug. 6, 2026 A long-term brain study found that common risks such as smoking, high blood pressure, heart disease, and high blood lipids were strongly linked to damage associated with vascular dementia. The ...

A Drug Already Used for Osteoporosis Blocked Spinal Damage in a New Study

Aug. 6, 2026 Genetic changes may set off a chain reaction that causes the spine’s natural shock absorbers to harden and deteriorate. Zebrafish with a faulty collagen-related gene developed mineral buildup and ...

Forget the Sperm Race: Fertilization May Depend on Teamwork

Aug. 6, 2026 Millions of sperm do not always compete alone—some species send them into action as coordinated teams. A sweeping evolutionary study found that this cooperation is widespread among arthropods and ...

Claude Fable 5 AI Finds a Tiny Formula That Topples an 87-Year-Old Math Conjecture

Aug. 5, 2026 A mathematician working at Anthropic says he used the AI model Claude Fable 5 to uncover a remarkably simple counterexample to the Jacobian ...

567-Million-Year-Old Fossils Rewrite the Dawn of Animal Life

Aug. 5, 2026 A spectacular fossil site in Canada contains 567-million-year-old creatures that may represent some of the earliest animals to move, reproduce sexually, and develop recognizable body plans. The ...

Scientists Discover the Brain Cells That Keep You Motivated

Aug. 5, 2026 A group of brain cells called orexin neurons appears to help us keep working when reaching a reward becomes increasingly difficult. Blocking their activity weakened motivation in rats, pointing to a ...

80-Million-Year-Old Snake Brain Reveals a Surprising Evolutionary Secret

Aug. 5, 2026 An exceptionally preserved snake fossil from Brazil reveals that early snakes were far more diverse than scientists once thought. Detailed brain reconstructions show that Tametara mirim was adapted ...

This School-Bus-Sized “terror Croc” Ate Dinosaurs. Now It’s Back

Aug. 5, 2026 A massive crocodilian capable of attacking dinosaurs has been brought back to life as the first scientifically accurate mounted skeleton of Deinosuchus schwimmeri. The 31-foot replica at Georgia’s ...

A Colossal Magma System Has Been Hiding Beneath Tuscany

Aug. 5, 2026 A massive magma reservoir has been detected deep beneath Tuscany, despite showing no obvious signs at the surface. Scientists mapped the roughly 6,000-cubic-kilometer body using natural ground ...

A Solar Eclipse and the Perseid Meteor Shower Arrive on the Same Day

Aug. 5, 2026 August brings four major celestial events, including a solar eclipse and the peak of the Perseid meteor shower. Dark New Moon skies could make the Perseids especially impressive, while Venus will ...

Ancient Arctic Carbon Is Pouring Into the Sea, but the Seabed Captures Most of It

Aug. 3, 2026 Thawing Arctic permafrost is releasing ancient carbon into the ocean, raising fears that microbes could turn it into greenhouse gases and accelerate climate change. But sediment cores collected near ...

Scientists Reveal the Hidden Force Driving the Universe’s Hottest Fluid

Aug. 3, 2026 When atomic nuclei smash together at nearly the speed of light, they create the hottest fluid in the universe, but scientists may have overlooked one of its most important forces. New simulations ...

Moonquakes Could Reveal Hidden Water Beneath the Lunar Surface

Aug. 3, 2026 Hidden moon ice may reveal itself through the way it bends and reflects vibrations from moonquakes. The technique could help astronauts locate vital water supplies and uncover clues about the origins ...

A Simple Supplement Could Help the Immune System Fight Cancer and Viruses

Aug. 3, 2026 Low arginine levels may allow cancer cells and viruses to slip past the immune system by reducing production of a crucial cellular warning protein. In mice, arginine-rich diets led to fewer colon ...

Two Deadly Flowers Could Inspire Powerful New Medicines

Aug. 3, 2026 Scientists have figured out how two famously poisonous plants create chemicals with surprising medical potential. After tracking thousands of genes in wolfsbane and larkspur, they identified six ...

Giant Waves Are Sweeping Mars’ Atmosphere Into Space

Aug. 3, 2026 The solar wind may be stripping away Mars’ atmosphere by creating giant rolling waves along its outer edge. Data from MAVEN and Tianwen-1 show that these waves form plasma clouds that carry ...

Mathematicians Prove Perfectly Fair Elections Are Impossible

Aug. 2, 2026 Mathematicians have shown that no electoral system can perfectly balance local representation, proportional national results, and a fixed-size parliament once enough parties compete. A newly proposed ...

Scientists Found Two Mysterious ‘ghost’ Ancestors Hiding in Our DNA

July 31, 2026 Modern humans carry DNA from two mysterious extinct lineages in addition to Neanderthals and Denisovans. Their hidden genetic legacy shows that our evolutionary past was shaped by repeated mixing ...

Black Holes May Spit out Nearly as Much Matter as They Swallow

July 31, 2026 A black hole observed during a dramatic 2023 eruption did not simply devour gas from its nearby companion star. It also expelled large amounts of material through powerful jets and winds, even after ...

NASA’s Curiosity Rover Finds a Mysterious Honeycomb Landscape on Mars

Aug. 1, 2026 NASA’s Curiosity rover has entered a Martian valley covered by an astonishing “sea” of tiny polygon-shaped fractures. The honeycomb patterns, each only a few inches wide, stretch across the ...

Scientists Find a Simple Routine Linked to Less Pain and Depression

July 30, 2026 Keeping a regular daily schedule may help reduce pain and depression, especially among older adults with insomnia. Researchers found that consistent times for waking, eating, socializing, and ...

Your Gut May Help Your Brain Decide What to Remember

July 29, 2026 Signals traveling from the gut to the brain may help turn meals into lasting memories. Rats showed stronger memory activity after consuming nutritious foods, but not after drinking sweet liquids with ...

Blazing Like 10 Billion Suns: NASA’s Swift Sees a Wandering Black Hole Devouring a Star

July 28, 2026 NASA’s Swift Observatory observed a supermassive black hole ripping apart a star more than 30,000 light-years from the center of a distant galaxy. The extraordinary flare briefly outshone its ...

After 241 Days in Orbit This NASA Astronaut Is Finally Home

July 27, 2026 NASA astronaut Chris Williams and two Roscosmos cosmonauts are back on Earth after spending 241 days aboard the International Space Station. Their journey covered more than 102 million miles and ...

Hidden Genetic Diversity Helped Inbred Brown Tree Snakes Conquer Guam

July 26, 2026 A notorious snake invasion that devastated Guam’s native birds may have succeeded because the reptiles carried hidden genetic advantages. Using advanced long-read DNA sequencing, researchers ...

Venus May Be Tearing Itself Apart from Within

July 24, 2026 Scientists have uncovered new evidence that Venus may still be tearing itself apart from within. Advanced 3D simulations indicate that some of the planet's giant rift valleys formed relatively ...

Strange Gamma Rays Could Reveal How Stars Forge Heavy Elements

July 31, 2026 Scientists traced a mysterious surge of low-energy gamma rays from zinc-70 to magnetic changes occurring inside its nucleus. The breakthrough could improve models of how stars, supernovae, and ...

The Search for Life on Jupiter's Icy Moon Europa Just Got More Complicated

July 29, 2026 Europa’s hidden ocean has made the icy moon one of the solar system’s most promising places to search for habitable conditions. Scientists have hoped that water from this deep ocean might rise ...

Twisted Laser Light Can Tell Mirror-Image Molecules Apart

July 28, 2026 Scientists have created twisted laser beams that interact differently with right-handed and left-handed molecules, revealing their identity through the fragments they produce. The approach could ...